Scenes From a Spyglass
by Oxnate
Summary: In a world where daemons are the outward manifestation of your soul, the fact that vampires don't have daemons should make things easier. Right?
1. Chapter 1

Scenes From a Spyglass

by Oxnate

Do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or His Dark Materials (Golden Compass, etc.)

A collection of scenes of how things might have been slightly different if Buffy had taken place in the HDM universe.

* * *

Scenes From a Spyglass (AKA Chapter 1)

Buffy could tell she was being followed. Whomever it was was stepping carefully but forgot about their dæmon's footsteps. Something hard and hoof-like, but small. She skipped around the corner then up and out of sight.

A man and his pig dæmon came around the corner. They looked baffled at having lost her, right up until the point where she spun down from the pole she'd been balancing on and knocked the guy on his back.

"Oof," the man cried out as he landed. "Is there a problem, ma'am?"

Phillip, in his lynx form, fell on the back of the man's dæmon. The pig let out a squeal of pain and fright. "Ow, ow. Get it off, get it off!" the pig whined.

"Yeah, there's a problem. Why are you following me? Phillip, stop biting her... for now." The squealing stopped.

"I know what you're thinking. But as you can see," he gestured over to where their dæmons were still entangled, "I don't bite." Since vampires don't have dæmons, he couldn't possibly be a vampire.

"Don't you know it's rude to stalk young girls at night?" But she backed off and let him up. Phillip jumped off the pig and padded over to her side, transforming back down to the size of a house cat. A shadow that had been edging out from behind a dumpster retreated.

The man stood up and started brushing himself off. "Truth is, I thought you'd be taller, or bigger muscles and all that. You're pretty spry, though," he hinted at things he might know.

"What do you want?" Buffy asked impatiently.

"The same thing you do."

"Okay. What do I want?"

"To kill them. To kill them all."

"Sorry, that's incorrect. But you do get this lovely watch and a year's supply of bacon," she looked threateningly at the pig dæmon. "What I _want_ is to be left alone!" she started to walk away.

"Do you really think that's an option anymore? You're standing at the Mouth of Hell. And it's about to open." That was enough to stop her. He pulled out a box and tossed it to her. "Don't turn your back on this. You've gotta be ready."

Buffy caught the box. "What for?"

"For the Harvest."

"Who are you?"

"Let's just say... I'm a friend," the man said as he and his dæmon started to walk away.

"Yeah, well, maybe I don't want a friend," Buffy called at his back.

"I didn't say I was yours," he said mysteriously.

* * *

Giles began his speech. "This world is older than any of you know. Contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons demons walked the Earth. They made it-

"Wait. I thought dæmons are good. You're good. Right, Matthew?" Willow asked her dæmon.

"Of course," her dæmon was currently a raven.

"Not dæmons. Demons. D-E-M-O-N-S. There is no ligature," Giles said, exasperated. "And none of them had a dæmon. Now where was I?"

"For untold eons," at least Phillip was paying attention, he was in the form of a chihuahua, on Buffy's lap at the moment.

Giles nodded his thanks to Buffy's dæmon. "Right. For untold eons demons walked the Earth. They made it their home, their- their Hell. But in time they lost their purchase on this reality. The way was made for mortal animals, for- for man and our dæmons. All that remains of the old ones are vestiges, certain magicks, certain creatures."

"And vampires," Buffy added.

Xander managed to only freak out a little. "Okay, this is where I have a problem. See, because we're talking about vampires. We're having a talk with vampires in it."

"Isn't that what we saw last night?" Willow asked.

Buffy tried sarcasm. "No. No, those weren't vampires, those were just guys in thundering need of a facial. Or maybe they had rabies. It could have been rabies. A-and that guy turning to dust? Just a trick of light. And their dæmons? Just hiding. That's exactly what I said the first time I saw a vampire. Well, after I was done with the screaming part."

"Oh, I- I need to sit down," Willow said.

"You _are_ sitting down," Buffy pointed out.

"Oh. Good for me," Willow said in a daze.

"So vampires are demons, no 'A'?" Xander asked.

"Right. A lack of a dæmon is one of the better ways to spot a vampire," Giles agreed. "Some other ways include..."

* * *

Buffy examined the lock on the door at the back of the mausoleum. She heard someone behind her.

"I don't suppose you've got a key on you?"

"They really don't like me dropping in," Mr. Mysterious said.

"Why not?"

"They really don't like me."

It was Phillip who spoke from the lid of one of the tombs. He had taken the form of a badger for traveling through the tunnels. "Oh dear. How could that possibly be?"

The man ignored her dæmon. "I knew you'd figure out this entryway sooner or later. Actually, I thought it was gonna be a _little_ sooner."

"Sorry you had to wait. Okay. Look, if you're gonna be popping up with this Cryptic Wise Man act on a regular basis, can you at least tell us your names?"

"Angel. This is Mary," Angel said.

"Pretty names," Buffy turned to contemplate the tunnels.

"Don't... go down there," Angel begged.

Buffy scoffed, "Deal with my going."

"You shouldn't be putting yourself at risk. Tonight is the Harvest. Unless you can prevent it, the Master walks." Angel informed her.

"Well, if this Harvest thing is such a suckfest, why don't _you_ stop it?"

"Cause I'm afraid," Angel admitted.

"Shouldn't your dæmon be a chicken then?" Buffy turned and kicked open the door to the tunnels.

"They'll be expecting you," warned Angel.

Buffy wheeled on him. "I've got a friend down there. Or at least a potential friend. Do you know what it's like to have a friend?"

Angel lowered his eyes.

"That wasn't supposed to be a stumper." Buffy waited for a moment before turning to enter the tunnels.

"When you hit the tunnels head east towards the school. That's where you're likely to find them," Angel at last gave some useful advice.

"You gonna wish me luck?"

"Good luck!" Mary squeaked eagerly. She was quelled by a look from Angel. Angel waited until Buffy and her dæmon were gone to whisper, "Good luck." He turned to his dæmon and spoke in a normal voice. "See? It's much more dramatic that way."

* * *

"They're close," Phillip said.

"How can you tell?" Xander's dæmon, Nicole asked. She was in the form of a small, yellow lab. She could smell death and decay everywhere but couldn't smell Jesse anywhere.

"No more rats," Phillip pointed out.

As they turned the next corner, they spotted a pair of legs wearing Jesse's shoes.

"Jesse!" Xander raced to his friend's side.

"Oh, no!" Buffy said, fearing the worst.

Jesse jumped up as soon as Xander reached him.

"J-J-Jesse!" Xander said as he helped his friend to his feet.

"Xander!" Jesse exclaimed before hugging his friend.

"Where's Elizabeth?" Nicholas asked. Jesse's dæmon spent a lot of time in the form of a lamb and was every bit as cute and stupid as the real thing, but he never went far from his human, just like any other dæmon.

"Dammit. It's so hard to fake a dæmon," Jesse said as he vamped out and bit down on Xander's neck.

As fast as Buffy was, Nicole was faster. Transforming from a small lab to a giant great dane, she leapt and hit Jesse in the face with her giant paws, knocking him away from Xander.

Buffy helped the dazed Xander to his feet. "Run!" she ordered. Both of the dæmons growled at the demonically possessed Jesse before taking off after their humans.

"Don't you know it's rude to have your dæmon attack someone?" Jesse called out after them.

"You have to _be_ a someone for that to apply," Buffy called back even as she ran. Up ahead in the tunnels, yellow eyes glowed in the gloom. "Crap. This way," she pulled Xander along.

Twenty feet into the next tunnel, a vampire blocked the way. A shadow dropped from the ceiling onto him, turning into a giant, black tiger, then tearing its head off before melting back into shadow.

"Did that just-?" Xander began.

"Run now. Questions later," Buffy said as she dragged him forward and through the pile of dust that had recently blocked their way.

After a suitably dramatic escape from the sewers, Buffy helped Xander reach the hospital and medical attention.

* * *

"Okay. What the heck was that?" Xander asked from his hospital bed. He had several IVs pumping fluids into him, but the doctors assured him he would be just fine. Nicole had shrunk into a lamb and was laying on Xander's stomach, crying and being petted.

"What was what?" Buffy tried playing innocent.

"That giant, black, shadow, cat-thing," Xander sputtered.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. You were practically delirious with blood loss."

Xander just stared.

"Fine," Buffy checked the room for stray doctors, nurses, and dæmons then closed the door. "You're both sworn to secrecy though, got it?"

"Got it," they both said.

"Come on out, Sarah."

A shadow detached itself from under the bed and grew until it was the size of a black panther.

"This is Sarah. She's the Slayer dæmon, passing from one Slayer to the next as they're called."

Sarah just growled.

"Did I mention she doesn't like people knowing about her? She doesn't talk, but she seems to understand just fine," Buffy said as Sarah melted back into the shadows. "And if you tell anyone about her, she... Well, just don't tell anyone about her, okay?"

"Wow, bodies moving without dæmons and now someone with two. This had got to be the weirdest day ever," Xander exclaimed.


	2. If you can call them Chapters, This is 2

If you can call them Chapters, then this is number 2.

Xander and Willow were both more than a little embarrassed that they hadn't realized; when Amy's dæmon had finally settled to be 'just like' her mother's swan, Nelson; that it actually was her mother's dæmon. That was almost as bad as urban legends that went around about people who used regular animals to hide the identity of their dæmon. As if someone couldn't tell the difference between an animal and a dæmon at a glance.

Then again, no one really expected someone's mother to inhabit their child's body like that. But all-in-all, they were glad to see Amy's dæmon flit between the form of a hummingbird and a sparrow hawk. Proof that she was really their friend.

Similarly, Xander was forgiven for being fooled by the substitute science teacher. The mantis she'd claimed was her dæmon, had turned out to be a demon. Which certainly wasn't an ordinary animal and explained how it was able to fool them all.

* * *

Lance was sketching the monkeys in the monkey house when the Idiot Squad approached.

"Lance! How's it goin'?" Kyle asked if he cared. Kyle was more or less the leader of their group.

"Hey, Kyle," Lance didn't look up.

"So, is this like a, uh, family reunion?" Kyle asked.

Lance looked down at his dæmon, who was currently in the form of a squirrel, then at Kyle's dæmon, who had settled as a baboon. "No," he said, somewhat amused that Kyle didn't get the irony of his own joke. Then again, this group kept their spot in the pecking order at school by being among the first to have their dæmons settle and by being mean. Intelligence hadn't factored in at all.

"I think it's a family reunion. It's so... touching. Doesn't anybody have a camera?" Kyle asked. His dæmon made a photo-taking gesture. "Whapish!" she said.

"Hey, does your mom still pick out your lice, or are you old enough to do that yourself now?" Rhonda distracted Lance while Tor stole his notebook.

"Quit it, huh? Hey! Guys, c'mon! It's got my notes in there!" Lance tried to grab it back. Tor's german shepherd growled and kept Lance's dæmon, Kelly, from trying anything.

"What's going on here? I've had it up to here with you four! What're you doing?" Mr Flutie and his cow dæmon, Betsy ambled over.

"Nothing," Kyle denied.

"Did I ask you to speak?" Flutie asked. Besty nudged him to remind him that- "Okay, I guess I did, but I want the truth. Lance?" Mr Flutie turned to the victim, still surrounded and outnumbered by his tormentors. The answer was unsurprising, really.

"They weren't doing anything. Really! We were just playin' around," Lance declared.

Mr Flutie frowned, unaware of _why_ he could never get a witness to speak up against these four. "Alright. I'll be watching you."

"You! Came through big time," Kyle laughed. Marcia, his dæmon grabbed a peanut off the ground, shelled it and handed it to Kelly who nervously ate it.

Rhonda smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Way to go, Lance!"

"Flutie's been looking for a reason to come down on us," Tor stated the obvious. That was about all he could do. He was the stupid one out of a pack of idiots.

"It's okay," Lance assured them, just wanting to get away.

"Come on, we're gonna check out the Hyena House," Kyle grinned evilly.

* * *

"...and when they came out, all five of their dæmons were hyenas," Buffy finished her story.

"Buffy. A dæmon changing into the shape of something it saw at a zoo is hardly news. It's one of the reasons early zoos were started after all. To give young dæmons access to more shapes they could take," Giles said as he sipped his tea.

"Yeah, except that the four that took Lance in there, all their dæmons had already settled," Buffy informed him and was rewarded with a perfect spit-take.

Giles tried wiping the tea off his shirt, the table, and the book in front of him. "You mean to tell me that their dæmons had settled and now they have changed? What about Nicole?"

"She hasn't settled yet, but she was a hyena too," Phillip answered.

"Sssoundss like it will be a late night of ressearch," Tanya, Giles' dæmon, hissed from inside his shirt. She liked to wrap herself around his waist and absorb his body heat. It had practically been necessary in England, it was more of a comforting habit for both of them now in California.

* * *

"Why couldn't Xander be possessed by a puppy or, or some ducks?" Willow bemoaned.

Buffy frowned from where she was doing her own research. "That's assuming 'possession' is the right word."

"Oh, I'll say it is," Giles said as he came over from the book cage. "The Masai of the Serengeti have spoken of animal possession for generations. I should have remembered that."

"So how does it work?" Buffy asked.

"Well, apparently there's a sect of animal worshipers known as Primals. They believe that dæmons are a perversion, a dilution of spirit. To them the animal state is holy. They are able, through trans-possession, to draw the spirit of certain animals into themselves and their dæmons. They gain power, though their dæmons lose all capability of speech."

"And then they start acting like hyenas," Buffy concluded.

"Well, only the most predatory of animals are of interest to the Primals, so, yes, that would fit."

"So, what happens to the person once the spirit's in them?"

"If it goes unchecked..." Giles handed over a book opened to a page that showed a man with all his limbs torn off.

* * *

"I can speak again!" Nicole cried out and hugged Phillip. Very few of the humans had noticed that all the possessed students' dæmons hadn't spoken since the field trip. Then again, dæmons didn't really talk to strangers. Mostly their own humans, dæmons they're friends with, and those dæmons' humans; in that order.

* * *

The Slayerettes were walking up the steps to the school after Buffy told them about Angel being a vampire. "Angel's a vampire?" Willow repeated.

"I can't believe this is happening. One minute we were kissing, and the next minute..." she turned to Giles. "Can a vampire ever be a good person? Couldn't it happen?" Buffy begged for the answer she wanted to hear.

"A vampire isn't a person at all. It may have the movements, the, the memories, even the personality of the person that it took over, but i-it's still a demon at the core, there is no halfway," Giles explained.

"So that'd be a no, huh?" Willow said.

"Well what about his dæmon? That was no ordinary pig. We talked," Buffy pointed out.

"I bit her!" Phillip added. Around school, he mostly stayed in Chihuahua form. That form was very popular among dæmons of teenaged girls.

Buffy waved at her dæmon as if to say, 'See?'. Out loud, she went on, "What was he doing, then? Why was he good to me? Was it all some part of the Master's plan? It doesn't make sense!"

The three teens sat down on a bench.

"Alright, uh... you have a problem, and it's not a small one. Let's take a breath and look at this calmly and objectively. Angel's a vampire. You're a Slayer. I think it's obvious what you have to do," Xander broke out into a large grin at the thought of Angel's demise. When Buffy doesn't react, he looked to Giles for agreement.

"Uh, it is a Slayer's duty," the watcher pointed out.

"I know you have feelings for this guy, but it's not like you're in love with him, right?" Xander tried.

Buffy just looked away.

"You're in love with a vampire?! What, are you outta your mind?!"

"What?!" Cordelia overheard.

"Not vampire," Xander said to Cordelia then turned to Buffy. "How could you love an umpire? Everyone hates 'em!"

Nicole hid her face in shame at her human's lame coverup while Cordelia pretended not to hear and instead berated one of her minions for wearing the same dress she had.

* * *

Angel entered his apartment and realized something was wrong. "Who's here?"

"A friend." Darla walked out of the shadows wearing a Catholic schoolgirl outfit, "Hi. It's been a while."

Mary dove under the bed. Darla wasn't willing to risk killing her in case that took Angelus with her. The gypsies had told her that would happen if she killed the dæmon. But she wasn't above aiming a kick in her direction.

"A lifetime."

"Or two, but who's counting?" Darla smiled.

"What's with the Catholic schoolgirl look? Last time I saw you it was kimonos," Angel remembered.

"And last time I saw you it wasn't high school girls. Don't cha like? Remember Budapest? Turn of the century? You were such a bad boy during that earthquake."

"You did some damage yourself."

"Is there anything better than a natural disaster? The panic. The people lost in the streets. It's like picking fruit off the vine." Darla reached the bed Mary was hiding under and bounced on it a couple times. "Nice! You're living above ground, like one of them. You and your new friend are attacking us, like one of them." Darla got up and went to the window. "But guess what, precious? You're not one of them." She ripped the blinds open, briefly bathing Angel in sunlight. He yelled then staggered out of it and back into the shadows. "Are you?" she finished.

"No. But I'm not exactly one of you either," Angel said, with those words, Mary trotted out from under the bed and into the sunlight. It didn't hurt her any, and she was safer from Darla in the sunlight than under the bed.

Darla looked at her in disgust.

* * *

Angel had learned centuries ago not to underestimate teenage boys. They hadn't known about testosterone back then by name, but for untold generations, teenaged boys went out and did stupid stuff. Stuff that should have killed them. Stuff that often did kill them, but they got lucky and survived more often than not. That was why the most dangerous duelists were untrained teenagers. They didn't know any better so they performed moves that should have gotten them killed. Instead, opponents not ready for a move that should have resulted in an easy kill for them, couldn't get up a defense in time.

That was part of the reason that Angel feared Xander. Xander reminded him of those inexperienced duelists and he knew that in a fight, somehow his experience would actually work against him. And secondly, Xander's dæmon was currently in the form of a _huge_ hyena. It had glared at Mary and drooled until she had hidden under the bed again. And now it was eying him like _he_ was going to be lunch. And somehow Angel didn't think that the taboo about dæmons touching people was going to stop Xander or Nicole from killing him.

"You're in love with her," Angel said.

"Aren't you?" Xander and Nicole said as one.

* * *

Angel had expected Nicole to shrink or transform or something after he'd agreed to guide them to the Master. Instead, she'd stayed incredibly huge. Angel was lost in thought as they got to an intersection and he forgot where he was and which way to turn. He was forced to stop and think for a moment. "This way," he remembered and led the way. Xander was giving him an odd look. "What?"

"You were looking at my neck," Xander claimed.

"What?"

"You were checking out my neck! I saw that!" the human said.

"No, I wasn't!" Angel denied. He had much more important things to think about right now. Such as what he was going to do about Xander and Nicole when they found Buffy dead. Run or fight?

"Just keep your distance, pal," Xander ordered.

"I wasn't looking at your neck!" he scowled.

"I told you to eat before we left."

"Stop it, Xander," Nicole ordered seriously. Honestly, her human could be so... She sniffed the air ahead of them. "We're close."

"She's dead!" Angel said when they found Buffy's body in the puddle in the Master's cave.

"No. She's not dead," Xander denied. He and Nicole raced to her side.

"She's not breathing. Phillip's gone," Angel pointed out.

"But if she drowned, there's a shot! CPR!" Xander hoped. CPR had been around more or less since the second World War. Doctors still didn't know _how_ it brought dæmons back into being after they'd faded into Dust, but they knew it worked. And that was what mattered.

"You have to do it. I have no breath," Angel claimed. The truth was, he feared Xander would dust him if he failed to revive Buffy and he had no idea how long she had been dead. Long enough that they hadn't run into the Master or any of his minions on the way here. Turning his back on Xander was not making his to-do list anytime soon.

"Buffy," Xander said as she coughed up a couple lungfuls of water.

"Xander?"

"Welcome back," Xander said as he got to his feet. He then reached down and helped Buffy to hers. "Easy. Easy." Nearby, Nicole was giving Phillip' new form a good licking. To dry him off, and to remove any stray Dust.

"The Master?" Buffy asked.

"He's gone up," Angel answered.

Phillip started for the tunnel with Nicole by his side. Buffy was right behind them.

"No. You're still weak," Xander said, trying to stop her.

"No. No, I feel strong. I feel different. Let's go!" Buffy said.

"What form is Phillip in?" Angel asked as they exited the cave. "Some kind of badger?"

It was Phillip who stopped and turned to address Angel, "Honey Badger don't give a shit."

* * *

To say the Master was surprised when a small dæmon clamped onto his balls would be an understatement. The beast positively would _not_ let go. When a giant, black tiger leapt from the shadows and hit him in the chest, he fell backwards through the skylight. Sans testicles.


End file.
